Time To Heal
by mistressoflothlorien
Summary: When Carly rejects Sam's confession of love, Sam realizes maybe it's time to move on. *one-shot*


**Pairings:** one-sided Sam/Carly, Carly/OC, Slight Sam/Cat  
**Warnings:** Language, because we all know Sam would have a foul mouth IRL.  
**Author's note:** I don't even know what this is. I had a lot of Sam/Carly feels, then Carly left poor Sam. Now I'm having Cat/Sam feels. what the heck? Anyways, this is kind of closure for me? Maybe? Idek...

* * *

It was late at night and Cat was curled up asleep in her disgustingly pink bed, surrounded by more stuffed animals than Sam thought was normal. To be fair, Sam didn't think having any stuffed animals was normal, but she wasn't about to point that out to her red headed roommate. It irritated Sam, but for some reason she actually cared if she hurt Cat's feelings. Seeing Cat sad made Sam feel like there was no more bacon in the world, and Sam couldn't handle those type of emotions every day.

Sam glanced at the clock and sighed. It was 3 am here. Carly should be online any moment now. They usually had a standing date, every Friday night Sam would stay up late and wait to chat with Carly in Italy. Lately, they had both been so busy the date had been canceled. It frustrated the blonde that her only contact with her best friend was through a stupid computer screen.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Carly's screen name popped up. Excited, Sam jumped out of bed and ran into the front room. Despite what people said about her, Sam was considerate sometimes. She knew Carly was loud, and Sam didn't want to wake her roommate up.

Sam threw herself on the sofa and waited for Carly's face to appear.

"Sam!" Carly squealed as she came on the screen. Sam smiled. Carly always acted this excited when they chatted, even though they usually Skyped every week and sent texts every day.

"Hey Cupcake. How ya doin" Sam asked brightly. She smiled brightly, trying to hide the fact that she missed Carly more than anything in the world. "How was your day?"

Carly talked for almost half an hour, telling Sam about some trip she and her friend went on during the week. Sam just nodded and chuckled at the appropriate moments. She missed hearing Carly babble in person. She missed reminding the brunette to breathe every few minutes when she'd be telling a particularly good story.

"And then he ate the giant wiener!" Carly exclaimed with a flourish of her hands.

"Wait, who ate a giant what now?" Sam asked, confused.

"Oh Sammy. I knew you weren't paying attention. Are you sleepy? I know it's really late over there. Or is it early? I forget." Carly looked at something off-screen. "Yeah late. maybe you should go to bed."

"NO!" Sam all but shouted. "I'm not sleepy, keep going."

"How about you talk for a little while? How are things? Where are you right now?" Carly asked.

Sam was about to respond when Cat came out of their room. "Sammy what are you doing? Come back to bed." The redhead said sleepily.

"I'll be there in a little bit. Go back to sleep Red." Sam said, giving her roommate a rare soft smile. Cat nodded and wandered off back to the room.

"Who was that?" Carly screeched. "Why did she say go back to sleep with her? Sam! Who is she?"

"Oh that's Cat. I guess it's been a while since we talked huh." Sam laughed. "It's a long story."

"Give me the cliff note version." Carly demanded.

Sam sighed. "I was doing my emo ride of angst down the California coast when I decided to stop in LA. I saved Cat from being crushed by a dumpster truck and now we live together."

"NOW YOU LIVE TOGETHER?" Carly fumed. "What does that even mean? Are you together together?"

"What! Of course not..." Sam said looking startled at the question. She didn't realize that Carly knew Sam preferred girls over boys. It wasn't something they had ever talked about. Sam had only mentioned it once, to Melanie.

"So then why is she telling you to go back to bed with her?" Carly said, accusingly.

"Carls, chill. We share a room not a bed." Sam said. "Besides, what's the big deal if we did share a bed?"

"Because you're MY Sammy!" Carly said quietly. She looked away from the screen, blushing.

"Carls?" Sam started. "Just because I live with someone else doesn't mean I replaced you. You're Carly. You're my Cupcake. I love you." Carly's eyes flashed with something Sam couldn't identify.

"Sammy, you really weren't paying attention to the beginning of my story, were you?" Carly said sadly.

Sam looked at her best friend with confusion. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"If you were listening," Carly explained, "you would have heard about my new boyfriend. He's a fellow army brat. We've been together a few weeks now."

"That's great Carls." Sam tried to hide her disappointment and heartbreak. "So if you've got yourself a new ball and join, what's with the jealousy?"

"You're my best friend Sam. I was jealous of how close you guys seem. I mean, the only bed you used to share was mine." Carly said sadly.

Sam rubbed her eyes tiredly. She wondered if it was smarter to just sign off and pretend this night didn't happen.

"What do you mean you love me?" Carly asked, breaking the silence. "You mean as a friend right? Your best friend?"

"No. Not as your best friend." Sam admitted.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Turns out all your best friends had to go and fall for you." Sam told her bitterly.

"Sammy, listen..." Carly started to say, but Sam cut her off.

"I know the drill Cupcake. I saw this song and dance number acted out between you and Fredwad. I'm your best friend. I get it. I'm trying to move on, which is why I started this emo ride in the first place." Sam snapped at her best friend.

"Sammy, I want to continue this conversation, but my dad just sent me a text. He's meeting me and Adam for lunch." Carly looked sad. "Can we talk more tomorrow?"

"Naw, don't worry about it Cupcake. We'll talk during the week. You can tell me about this wazbag you're dating." Sam tried to joke. She knew it fell flat when Carly didn't smile. "Seriously Carls, we're ok. Fredwad and I are going to start a 'We Love Carly' club. It's going to be great."

Carly rolled her eyes. "Nice Puckett. Really funny."

"Go to lunch. Tell your dad I said what's up and tell the wazbag he's got me to answer to if he makes you cry." Sam said gruffly.

"Bye Sammy." Carly said softly before she logged off.

"See ya Cupcake." Sam said sadly. She was about to shut off the computer, or throw it across the room, when someone sent her a Skype chat invite. She hoped it was some internet pervert so she could take her anger out on them. Instead, a half asleep Freddie popped up.

"Fredwad. What do you want?" Sam snapped.

"It sucks doesn't it?" Freddie said. He gave Sam a look that told Sam the boy knew everything that just happened. "Carly text me." he explained.

"Fucking fuck. I was kidding about the club!" Sam shouted, then felt bad. She hopped she didn't wake Cat up again.

"I'm not going to give you a pep talk, because knowing you, you'd be up here by morning to slap me for it." Freddie said. "Instead, I'm going to tell you it sucks. You don't get over it. You pretend, because it's what she needs, but it's always going to hurt. You can try dating other girls, but in the end it doesn't work out because your heart knows they aren't her."

"So we're fucked?" Sam asked quietly, not looking at Freddie. She hated that he was seeing her this vulnerable. "and doesn't that count as a pep talk? Should I start up my bike?"

"Yup. We're screwed, and no that wasn't a pep talk. Do you feel pepped up?" Freddie said, almost cheerfully. Sam shook her head. "Right. Well go to bed, and get some rest. Don't you have work or something in the morning?"

Sam nodded. They had a couple of kids to watch in the afternoon, so she needed her rest.

"How did you know about the brats tomorrow?" Sam asked, distracted.

Freddie rolled his eyes. "You told me, remember? You sent me that disturbing text yesterday. About how you were going to get the butter sock ready for these brats?"

Sam grinned. "Oh yeah. Well I couldn't tell Carls that, she'd yell at me."

"Go to bed you weirdo." Freddie said. He yawned loudly. "If my mom finds out I'm up this late, she'll take the computer away again. She thinks I'm looking at...well yeah. anyways. Good night."

"Night Fredwad." Sam said, trying to sound nonchalant. "and thanks."

* * *

Sam shut down the computer and tossed it aside. Even though that conversation had only taken 45 minutes, Sam felt drained. She shut off the lights in the sitting room and wandered off to bed.

When she got into their bedroom, she noticed Cat had left her nightstand light on. It bathed the room in a soft light that made Sam cringe. She went over and shut it off. As she turned towards her bed, Cat spoke up softly, her voice heavy with sleep.

"You ok Sammy?" she asked. Sam nodded, but realized it was too dark for the redhead to see her.

"Of course." Sam said.

"Wanna go to sleep?" Cat asked.

"Yeah." Sam turned to go to her bed but Cat stopped her.

"Wanna sleep here?" Cat raised her blankets and moved over, making room for the blonde. Sam stood there deliberating for a moment before she threw herself into the bed. She lay there, face to face with Cat, both girls not saying anything. It was nice and warm and reminded Sam that the only other person she'd shared a bed with was Carly. Tears formed in the blonde's eyes then.

"It's ok Sammy. It's going to be ok." Cat said suddenly. Before Sam could respond, the redhead had wrapped her arms around Sam, enveloping her in a hug. "I heard what happened. I heard what your friend Freddie said. I don't think it's true. You're going to heal, and you're going to move on."

Sam didn't say anything, she just let herself be comforted by Cat. After a while, both girls drifted off to sleep.

* * *

When Sam woke up, she was startled to realize that she was spooned up behind Cat. Sam realized she liked having someone to hold, so she pulled Cat closer to her body, causing the redhead to sigh happily at the extra warmth.

"What are you thinking about?" A sleepy Cat asked a little while later, not opening her eyes.

"Too many stupid girly emotions. I need to go punch Goomer or something." Sam admitted.

"Don't do that! He's so sweet! How about I make breakfast instead?" Cat stretched and smiled at Sam. "Will that make you feel better?"

Sam nodded. "Mama likes bacon."

"I know." Cat crawled out of the bed and gave Sam a quick peck on the cheek. She dimpled brightly then ran out of the room.

Sam watched her roommate run away and realized what Cat said last night was true. Sam would heal. It would just take time, a lot of bacon, and an insane red haired girl.

* * *

Comments are love. 3


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